Dezeen Wire: design critic Justin McGuirk says that a kitchen concept by Dutch electrical company Philips that uses decomposition to generate methane gas for cooking is an example of how we may "have to get more comfortable with bacteria and with putrefaction's role in our ecosystem" – The Guardian

Dezeen Wire: architecture critic Rowan Moore says that a housing development built by the UK architecture show presenter Kevin McCloud's company Hab is a positive attempt at reversing the trend for "unimaginative, overpriced, undersized" properties in the UK – The Guardian

Moore describes the scheme in Swindon, England, as "imaginative and well-designed," whilst cautioning that it will take time to determine whether McCloud's goals of creating a community and "making people happy" have been achieved. He adds that the houses themselves are "very plain-looking" and far removed from the aspirational properties that feature on McCloud's show, Grand Designs.

Dezeen Wire: supporters of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei have been posting photos of themselves naked on a website as a protest against the Beijing police's decision to question his assistant, who had taken nude pictures of the artist and four women – The Telegraph

As part of Peroni Nastro Azzurro's series of talks on Italian design at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs will chair a discussion with Milan designer Fabio Novembre on 29 November. More

Dezeen in Israel: we've noticed a big increase in interesting design coming out of Israel in recent years, so last week we visited Tel Aviv to see recent projects from both established local designers and recent graduates of schools in this up-coming design nation. We'll publish our pick of the best projects over the next few days, but in the meantime we've grouped together all our stories about furniture and products designed in Israel. See all the stories »

You can also watch Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs and Tel Aviv-born designer Shay Alkalay discussing the rise of design in Israel in a movie we filmed in Cologne earlier this year. Watch the movie »

As part of our series of Dezeen Talks filmed at the Inside awards in Barcelona, Dezeen editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs talks to James Russell and Hannah Plumb of JamesPlumb about their interior for outfitters Hostem, which won the retail category. More